September Gnus

New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:

• A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables for mail-mode, rnews-reply-mode and gnus-msg are now obsolete.
• Gnus is now able to generate sparse threads—threads where missing articles are represented by empty nodes (see Customizing Threading).

  (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)

• Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server (see Archived Messages).
• Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are referred.
• Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
• Picons (personal icons) can be displayed (see Picons).
• A trn-like tree buffer can be displayed (see Tree Display).

  (setq gnus-use-trees t)

• An nn-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary buffers (see Pick and Read).

  (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)

• In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (see Binary Groups).
• Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (see Group Topics).

  (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)

• Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (see Summary Mail Commands).
• Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency is possible (see Group Score).

  (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)

• Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on groups of groups (see Marking Groups).
• Caching is possible in virtual groups.
• nndoc now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything else (see Document Groups).
• Gnus has a new back end (nnsoup) to create/read SOUP packets.
• The Gnus cache is much faster.
• Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (see Sorting Groups).
• New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and expiry times (see Group Parameters).
• All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used (see Formatting Fonts).
• There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process marked articles on the M P submap (see Setting Process Marks).
• The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been bound to keys on the / submap (see Limiting).
• Articles can be made persistent with the * command (see Persistent Articles).
• All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
• Article headers can be buttonized (see Article Washing).
• All mail back ends support fetching articles by Message-ID.
• Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (see Duplicates).
• All summary mode commands are available directly from the article buffer (see Article Keymap).
• Frames can be part of gnus-buffer-configuration (see Window Layout).
• Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (see Daemons).
• Groups can be made permanently visible (see Listing Groups).

  (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")

• Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
• Gnus respects the Mail-Copies-To header.
• Threads can be gathered by looking at the References header (see Customizing Threading).

  (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
        'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)

• Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid refetching (see Article Backlog).

  (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)

• A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate buffer to allow easier treatment.
• Gnus can suggest where to save articles (see Saving Articles).
• Gnus doesn’t have to do as much prompting when saving (see Saving Articles).

  (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)

• gnus-uu can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching articles (see Other Decode Variables).

  (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)

• Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text (see Article Washing).
• Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much cited text to hide is now customizable (see Article Hiding).

  (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)

• Boring headers can be hidden (see Article Hiding).
• Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
• Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.